Something went missing in August. The entire month flew by without an Ask the Profussor. But that’s not quite as bad as it sounds. For the first time in many months I was doing a better job about staying on top of questions as they appeared in the comments.

There is also a lot of Q&A that happens on Twitter. For some reason the FLB Facebook page just isn’t terribly active. Perhaps that’s because Twitter is more immediate. But I’ll tell you a little secret; nobody gets a great answer in only 140 characters.

Still, a few questions did slip through the cracks. And as long as you used a question mark, I’m committed to eventually making sure that all questions are answered. That means I’ve got some catching up to do. Ready, set, go.

N.B. I gave up linking back to the individual questions some time ago. If you are curious, Google does a great job in picking up threads on the FLB. Instead all of the extra long links in the post below all get directed to the “page of the day”. It’s not an error. I’m doing this on purpose. Maybe you click on one just for fun.

The pierogi you are asking about come from the St. Nicholas Ukrainian Orthodox Church in South Troy. This is not to be confused with the St. Nicholas church in Watervliet. While the latter also makes pierogi, I’ve been told that the Watervliet ones are just okay. Keep your eyes open, because the better ones in South Troy should be available to the public towards the end of this month.

The alternative is to switch horses and start pulling for a Wegmans. Or given that we now know a TJ’s will not come here for at least two years, perhaps someone can put their energy into cobbling together a low-overhead TJ’s co-op. I’d gladly pay a 10-15% premium over TJ’s shelf prices if someone would schlep a box of my favorite goodies from Paramus.

You bet it is. We even have a local restaurant consultant in town who I’m sure helps his clients do just that. More places need to hire Steve. But sadly, many chefs are egomaniacs who insist they know what is best. Sometimes they do, but not always.

Oh, it will. Berkeley totally gets hot. It was hot when Young Master Fussy was born. Except in Berkeley, nothing is air conditioned so you just have to suffer through it. Ha ha. So you just take your gorgeous fresh figs and mountains of other perfect summer produce and cry me a river.

It’s the rare bar that can make a good Old Fashioned. Unless you have reason to believe you are sitting in one of them, I’d recommend getting something much more foolproof, like a Jack Daniel’s on the rocks. Even if you are a fledgling whiskey drinker, a chilled glass of this stuff goes down a lot easier than you would imagine. Trust me.

I do agree with Mr. Dave that sometimes memories are more important that culinary enlightenment. When I go to Miami, a stop at Reuben’s Cuban Cafeteria is not mandatory because they make the best cortadito in Miami. No. I go there because a lot of my youth was spent at that counter and it feels like home (even if my Spanish is unspeakably rusty).

Did I neglect to mention the pint glass was filled to the brim? That’s seriously irresponsible stuff right there. It makes whiskey in a coffee mug look downright wholesome.

Scott Bakula isn’t that Scott Bakula but I love him anyway:
Are you saying you text while you drive? I’m surprised that you’d be so cavalier about an act that puts other people in danger. Why didn’t you include driving while hammered in that list? You know, because killing people isn’t that big a deal, right?

I do not text when I drive. I’m just too old to do it effectively. I can barely text while standing still. And it’s not me that’s being cavalier; it’s other drivers. Take a look around you next time you are in a car at how many people are multitasking on their phones. I see a lot more illegal cell phone use than I see the erratic driving that’s the hallmark of an inebriated driver. But thank you for your high opinion of me. It keeps me cozy at night.

What does the khaki-pants-wearing army of business-casual workers order as a healthful lunchtime staple in these parts? That was indeed a common refrain heard in California. I always preferred a salad that ate like a cheeseburger when I wasn’t off getting dim sum or cheap Vietnamese food. But that’s another story.

Tonia might be feeling a little bit defeated, but it will get better:
It is great for all of us to debate on here…pay attention to the Montsanto and the Michael Taylor stuff. But how many people outside these little groups care? I often feel discouraged within my own group of people…people think I’m crazy when I talk about these things…How can we influence these people??Can we?

Buck up there camper. This GMO thing is just getting started. The organic thing started off with the lunatic fringe too, and just look at it now. I never thought they would get partially hydrogenated oils out of most our food supply, and now they are mostly gone. High fructose corn syrup is on the run. GMOs are likely here to stay. But I really do suspect that labeling will loosen their stranglehold on our farmlands. However it will take time and a lot of work by committed passionate lunatics advocates.

I remember when organic used to mean something. Now it’s a way for big companies to improve their profit margins. I just wrote about Cowbella yogurt for All Over Albany. They are not officially organic. However, in my opinion, their animal husbandry practices beat the big organic yogurt producers. So, la-dee-da. Some things it’s important to buy organic, others not so much. I have little interest in organic honey.

These tours are low-key affairs. If there is a Tour de Beer it will be a walking tour, so it will have to wait until spring. It’s actually a pretty good idea, and I’ve already got it worked out in my mind. I just need to talk to Bill Swallow to figure out the last few details.

It’s all about understanding. There are some beers that I really enjoy. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Samuel Smiths Nut Brown Ale, Dogfish Head 60-minute IPA, Celis White, and Anchor Liberty, to name a few. I don’t need people to tell me these are good. But I want to understand what I’m tasting and why. And I really want to be able to identify flaws in beer too. Maybe I need to flush this out a bit more by giving wine examples in the weeks to come. Or perhaps I just need to move forward with the project and it will become more clear in time.

This was just one of a couple dishes I was making for the meal and I was trying to cut down on the amount of work. Everything I made for Thanksgiving contained Wild Turkey, you know, in honor of the holiday. So I made a mint julep sorbet (which served as a palate cleanser between courses) and the bread pudding was accompanied by a chocolate bourbon sabayon.

Like this:

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The question of brown glass vs everything else was brought up because you weren’t sure why beer snobs are anti-Heineken. We didn’t bail on the wine post, we were just addressing the question in the context of the beer post.